Mother nature and her wrath dictates everything. This year we had two hurricanes that changed our fall partterns and much more.
The mullet run was strong to our North, but rather weak in our area. We are finally seeing baits holding where they should be and the tarpon are right there with them. I expect a strong winter season on the shrimp again this year.
The seas have been consistently rough, but the weather man finally called for calmer seas so it was time to start scheduling in some trips. With a 25FT (bay style) fishing boat, if you can pick your weather, consider yourself lucky.
On this day, I had Luis joining me.
I picked him up at the marina about 5:30AM and we made our way South. The air was cooler and the breeze was stronger than I was looking forward to. I decided to stay in the bay as to find bait and not beat them up.
As we approached the bay, we were greeted by birds singing. I pulled out my JUJU 12FT cast net and asked Luis to drive the boat towards the birds. Shortly after, my SIMRAD was lit up RED. I made a perfect throw and just like that we had enough bait to go fishing.
We cleared the inlet and headed South looking for current and signs of life. We found some flying fish getting blasted and just behind them was a nice school of mahi. We put about five in the box.
Notice we are in state waters here. This means you can only keep five per person. This regulation could be more helpful than I originally thought.
We released several more and Luis even got in on the action with his artificials. Nothing quite like being in a school of lit up mahi especially the ones with a bit more size to them.
It was only 8:30am and we already had enough fish for the diner table, but I wanted variety. So now it was time to get in on some kingfish and bottom fish.
We ran a bit more South and found some current. We put out the live baits up top and two baits down deep. It didn't take long before we were covered in kingfish and steady action on the bottom rod.
Luis was telling me about a fried fish recipe his family has, so I decided to get our limit on Kingfish so everyone could enjoy some. The limit is only two per person. Each fish was about 5 to 10 pounds or so. I was targetting that 30 lb plus fish, but no luck.
While catching kingfish, the bottom rods were bending over violently. Social media has made bottom fishing extremely popular as half the calls I get these days are from people that want to bottom fish.
Luis got tight on two really nice red groupers and we put them in box. Quite the variety!
I learned that red grouper need to be 20". I'm always learning.
With our fish bag full, we decided to release the rest of our catch and just as I said that... zzzzzzzz. A sailfish nails the flat line and the fight was on. We ending up losing the fish, but still very exciting to hear that drag scream.
It was one of those days where we worked for them. There were no breaks, constantly hustling. We lost our wind for the kite, otherwise I would of had it up to catch more sailfish and potentially bigger kings.
Trips like this remind me that Southeast Florida really is world class fishing. We caught over five different species and could of come inshore to target tarpon as well.
Each day is different so reading the conditions, tides, etc is all extremely important. That can only come with more time on the water.
Back as the dock, Luis has been learning to become a master with the filet knife. The best way to learn to filet fish is through experience.
He called me a few days later to offer me some of the family recipe, but I was out of town for Thanksgiving.
I want to thank you for your continued support and have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. It is becuase of you that myself and the team love what we do.
Tight Lines
Captain Mike